Carolina Hurricanes Still an Eastern Conference Basement Dweller

Carolina Hurricanes Made Several New Additions, But There’s Nothing to Suggest They’re Playoff Ready

There seems to be a common misconception regarding the Carolina Hurricanes this offseason. For some reason, fans and experts have convinced themselves that this team is not only better, but somehow a playoff contender.

Not only did the Canes get worse, they’ve set themselves up for the Nolan Patrick sweepstakes in 2017.

NHL.com writer Tom Gulitti wrote a piece titled “Hurricanes Infuse Champion Pedigree to Roster“. Tom is a brilliant, well-respected hockey writer, but this is a classic case of how you can find varying opinions on almost all NHL topics.

He argues the Carolina Hurricanes are better on paper today after their offseason additions. Tom notes key departures such as James Wisniewski, Michal Jordan, Riley Nash, Chris Terry, Nathan Gerbe, and Brad Malone.

He believes the additions of Teuvo Teravainen, Bryan Bickell, Lee Stempniak, Viktor Stalberg, and Matt Tennyson are upgrades. He also lumps first rounders Jake Bean and Julien Gauthier as key arrivals, even though the pair are unlikely to have an NHL impact for at least a few years. Gulitti also notes the potential addition of prospect Sebastian Aho, as if the lone Finn will be a difference maker in year one.

Here’s the tough reality folks; you can’t easily replace a player like Eric Staal. His play was perceived on the decline, although truth be told, the Canes never put the proper talent around him.

How does adding three or four more mediocre pieces put this team over the top? Bickell and Teravainen were nothing but support pieces in Cup victories, whereas Eric Staal had a career-high 100 point season during their ’06 Cup win and played a much larger leadership role.

Carolina got lucky with Kris Versteeg, but he bounced around a lot after being similarly rewarded. Why the Canes feel rolling the dice on Bryan Bickell makes sense, who knows?

Looking back at 2015-16, Carolina was almost a Wild-Card candidate before they traded Eric Staal. It wasn’t until he was dealt to New York that the Hurricanes completely fell out of contention. The debate leading into the deadline was whether the Canes should add or subtract.

Mar 17, 2016; Pittsburgh, PA, USA; Carolina Hurricanes defenseman Jaccob Slavin (74) skates with the puck against the Pittsburgh Penguins during the second period at the CONSOL Energy Center. The Penguins won 4-2. Mandatory Credit: Charles LeClaire-USA TODAY Sports /

The lone bright spot for this team is the blue line. Between Justin Faulk, Noah Hanifin, Jaccob Slavin, and Brett Pesce, Carolina is overloaded with talent on the point. Funny thing is, the Hurricanes still have Haydn Fleury, Roland McKeown, and now Jake Bean lurking in the prospect pool.

A solid blue line doesn’t ensure success though. Just ask the 2015-16 Calgary Flames, whose goaltending let them down for the first chunk of the season. That means that Eddie Lack/Cam Ward‘s performance in 2016-17 carries the same weight, if not more.

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If the Canes find a way to get reliable quality goaltending, and the defense group performs as expected, it leaves one piece of the puzzle to bring it all together for playoff contention. The team needs to produce offense/score goals. A 27th ranked finish at 2.39 goals per game in 2015-16 suggests the new additions would need to have a massive impact.

Surprisingly, the one story not being talked about so far is the Carolina Hurricanes offseason spending.

They only have $51,008,331 committed to next year’s $73 million dollar salary cap. That leaves them with nearly $3 million to spend in order to reach the cap floor ($21 million to the ceiling). The only contract of significance left to be signed is center Victor Rask, who could just barely bring them above the floor.

How much of this has to do with the story that broke months back regarding owner Peter Karmonos Jr.’s shaky financial situation? We never expect the small market Hurricanes to spend to the ceiling, but there’s no way they can compete scrapping at the floor.

Is this a forward group that screams playoff contention? (these are not lines, simply depth chart by position)

Jeff Skinner – Jordan Staal – Elias Lindholm
Sebestian Aho – Victor Rask – Lee Stempniak
Viktor Stalberg – Teuvo Teravainen – Andrej Nestrasil
Brock McGinn – Jay McClement – Valentin Zykov
Joakim Nordstrom – Aleksi Saarela
Sergey Tolchinsky